Elizabethtown Gets First NCAA Tournament Win Since 1996 with 2-0 Victory over Drew; Blue Jays to Host Johns Hopkins Saturday in Second Round

ELIZABETHTOWN, Pa. --- Elizabethtown College, playing in the NCAA Division III men's soccer tournament for the first time since 1999 Wednesday night, defeated Drew University 2-0 at home to gain its first NCAA tournament win since 1996. Drew, which was the 2003 NCAA Division III national runner-up, concluded its season with a 14-6-1 overall record, while Etown improved to 15-3-3 overall and advanced to the second round of the tournament, where Elizabethtown will host Johns Hopkins University Saturday at 1:00 p.m.

The pace of the game's scoreless first half was very back-and-forth, with Etown getting off four shots and Drew firing two shots. Both teams managed only one shot on goal in the first half, with Mike Helsel (Palmyra, PA/Palmyra Area) taking Etown's early in the game, and with Bryan Dempsey (Trucksville, PA/Wyoming Sem.) taking Drew's late in the first half.

There was much more shooting in the second half, with Etown out-shooting Drew 10-8 in the final 45 minutes, and the intensity of play picked up greatly following Etown's first goal at 61:13. The Blue Jays scored when junior Zach Eddinger (Middletown, CT/Middletown) received a rebound from off a Drew defender on a previous Etown shot and drove the ball into the net for his second goal of the season.

Drew narrowly missed a goal of its own just before the 82 minute mark when a Derek Swanner (Monroe Twp., NJ/Christian Brothers) shot caromed off the left Etown goalpost, and Etown added an insurance goal at 85:56 when first-year Michael Terry (Beech Creek, PA/Central Mountain) scored the first goal of his collegiate career for the Blue Jays. Terry was on the receiving end of the ricochet off the crossbar of a hard shot by Etown sophomore Brennan Reichenbach (Selinsgrove, PA/Selinsgrove).

Etown goaltender Edwin Tichenor (Mechanicsburg, PA/Cumberland Valley) made four saves in the net to preserve the shutout, and Drew keeper Dan Biggers (Boulder, CO/Boulder) made three saves.

In addition to being Elizabethtown's first NCAA tournament win in eight years, the win was also Elizabethtown's first-ever nighttime home NCAA tournament game. The Elizabethtown College Blue Jays will next host the Blue Jays of Johns Hopkins University, currently ranked second in the nation in the latest coaches' poll at 1:00 p.m. Saturday, November 13 at Ira R. Herr Field.